Linux-Advocacy Digest #879, Volume #27 Sat, 22 Jul 00 21:13:05 EDT
Contents:
Linux ap't vs. Micorosoft (was: Re: If Microsoft starts renting apts (was: If Micr
(Tim Palmer)
Re: Just curious, how do I do this in Windows? ("Drestin Black")
Re: Just curious, how do I do this in Windows? ("Drestin Black")
Re: Windows98 (Tim Palmer)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Tim Palmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Linux ap't vs. Micorosoft (was: Re: If Microsoft starts renting apts (was: If
Micr
Date: 22 Jul 2000 20:41:49 -0500
LIE-nux Apt's v2.4.0.BETA.0.0.0.1
WINDOW
The apt comes with no outside walls at all, but it comes with brick's and mortar,
and panes of glass,
and a short summery of how to bild with them, so you can built in as many windo's
as you want.
LOOK AND FEEL
It comes with no look and feel in partickueller, but residdants are aloud to
have any look and feel they
want as long as they bild it themselves.
SUPER RESIDENT
Certain tasks can only be peformed by the Super Resident. The Super Resident
can move into and out of
any appartmant he want's.
ILLECTRICITY
The illectricle sistim was built by thousands of amateur illectritions, and
it isant finnished yet and
thear might be a few short cirkit's hear and thear. The wall sockets fit European
plugs, so you'll have
to throw away all your American illectricle appliances and go to Europe to by
new ones.
If all the lites in your house go out, you are encouraged to take apart the
walls and fix the short
cirkit yourself. All our illectritions are busy fixing other bilding rite
now,
whear there mistakes are causing constint problems.
By doing this, you
will also restore illectricity to your neighbors. Keep in mind that
you nead to become the
Super Resident before you can fix anything that is part of the apt.
TELEVISION
For some reason, regular tellevisions don't work in the Lixnu Apt's. Only the
Netscape TV will work. Unlike
a normall TV, the Netscape TV doesa'nt have the fixed frequencys of each channle.
Instead, it homes in
on the strongest signle to determin the frequency. It can take as long as 10
minnutes to switch from
channle 4 to channle 5 this way. If you touch the TV, you might maik it loose
the frequency, in which
case, it has to "rehome" the channle.
TRASH
Every Resident get's an R-M wand. Whattever the end of the wand touches is instantly
vaperized. It is
not the responsibbillaty of Red Hat Apt's if you vaperize your dog, your girlfrend,
or your Netscape TV.
TENANT MAINTENANCE
Appliances in your apt will sometimes, for no reason, stop what their doing
and dump a "core" on the
floor. Forenstic evidence in the core can be exammin'd by a labbertory specialist
to figure out why the
core was created, but you are incouraged to do the lab work yourself. Some appliances
will leave cores
that cannot be vaperized with the R-M wand unless your the Super Resident.
PEST CONTROLL
Ressidant's are incouraged to exterminnait any bugs they find themselve's.
SECURITY
This is an Open Doors appartmant complex. Since there are so manny people wacthing
for inntruders, there
is no nead for there to be locs on the doors. You are incouradged to run your
own closed-circut cirvalence
demon (CCCd) and spend all your free time watching the taps that were recorded while
you were out or sleaping.
On Wed, 19 Jul 2000 21:02:13 -0400, Aaron R. Kulkis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>All of this discussion about Microsoft renting apps with .NET
>got me to thinking...what are we facing if, in fact, Microsoft
>does start renting apts???
>
> Microsoft Apts 2000
>
>WINDOW
>
>No apartment may ever have more than one window. Residents might
>forget which window they were looking out of and get confused.
>
>The window will be open, all the time, even in the dead of winter,
>because marketing discovered that most people want the window open.
>
>APARTMENT SNAPSHOT TRANSMISSIONS
>
>When you arrive home each day, a security camera will photograph you,
>and send a picture to Microfoft Headquarters. It's for your own good.
>
>LOOK AND FEEL OF YOUR APARTMENT
>
>Residents are not be allowed to change the curtains, nor hang blinds
>in the window. Microsoft has already provided the most popular
>window. Shut up and be thankful you have a window.
>
>THE BLUE LIGHT OF DEATH
>
>Some times, you may find all of your normal lights have shut off
>and your entire apartment is suddenly filled with a blue light,
>with a strange message is written on the wall, like "Illegal Fork
>in Virtual Device 0x0BEDB00F." This indicates that a rodent or
>ghost in your system has died...or maybe not...actually, we don't
>know. Don't bother to call the manager, he won't know why, either.
>Simply leave your apartment, come back in, and usually, the lights
>will come back on. If the lights don't go back on, you can always
>try having replacement furniture delivered, as that seems to help.
>
>Nobody knows why this shit happens, but you should consider normal.
>[Why??? Because if we've kept your head filled with low expectations
>for this long...why should anything change now?]
>
>APARTMENT FORMAT SERVICE
>
>If your lights STILL do not come back on, management provides a
>Format service. When a resident requests Format C:, a man with
>a flame thrower will come to your apartment, and incinerate the
>entire contents. After the flames die out, you can begin reinstalling
>your apartment, You can install new copies of your old furniture, and
>everything will be just like before, only better, because that arm
>off the old couch--you remember the one that your nephew accidentally
>removed...it will be back when you re-install your couch. Not only
>that,
>but all of those old photo albums and billing records and stuff...you
>really don't need all of that old clutter around, anyway.
>
>
>Also, it is improper to put anything away in the usual fashion.
>For example, if you get a suit back from the cleaners, just wad
>it all up in a ball, and throw it into he middle of the room.
>The jacket, might, for example, end up on a chair, and the vest,
>hangingon your sink faucet and your pants in the dishwasher. If you
>have a game...NO PROBLEM...just throw the box up in the air, and
>the board, and all the cars and pieces will land SOMEPLACE. The
>point is...you don't have to worry about that right now!
>
>When your apartment gets too cluttered, simply call management to
>come defragment your room. Be careful not to move anything while
>management is defragmenting your room, or they will have to start
>the entire process all over again. We advise going shopping for
>more furniture for your apartment.
>
>
>PARTITIONING YOUR APARTMENT
>
>Although it is possible to "partition" your apartment, by reducing
>the size of the C: room to make rooms D:, E:, F:, etc... Microsoft
>advises against it. Why do you need unnecessary walls in your
>apartment? Microsoft advises having everything in one big room
>Everything....the kitchen sink, the refrigerator, your bed,
>your medicine cabinet, even your toilet. One big room, with
>one window and your Microsoft curtains. That's all you need!
>
>TRASH
>
>Also, every Microsoft apartment has an expandable dumpster.
>When you put some object, like, the toaster your little brother
>broke and you had to re-install.... the OLD, broken toaster can
>be conveniently stored in the dumpster in case you want to get
>it back again. As time goes on, you might notice that your
>apartment is getting smaller and smaller. Actually, that' not
>the case...when you put something into the Microsoft dumpster,
>it actually stays in your apartment, and so, with time, your
>trash can keeps getting bigger and bigger, filling up a larger and
>larger portion of your apartment. So, if you ever want that stupid
>old broken toaster again....even months later....just look in
>your dumpster, it's still there, right inside your apartment.
>
>ELECTRICITY
>
>All electrical outlets conform to the Microsoft Plug-1 API. The Plug-1
>API uses only ONE terminal; the other electrical contact is a ground
>strap which you attach to the metal floor with screws. In a few years,
>the Plug-4 specification will be released. Plug-4 sockets will be
>fully backwards compatible with Plug-1 appliances, but slight
>increases in blown fuses will be a risk.
>
>AIRWAYS EXPLORER
>
>The 60Hz wave will be processed by Microsoft Power electrical
>converters. Power(tm) converters will make sure that critical
>harmonic frequency components (120Hz, 180Hz, 240Hz, etc.) will
>be boosted to proper levels all the way into the Megaherts range.
>Any interference with the resident's personal radio or tv set
>purely incidental, and is not evident of any malicious intent
>against residents who insist upon not using our fully integrated
>Microsoft Airways Explorer 5.0.
>
>STRUCTURAL INSTABILITY
>
>Of course, it goes without saying that like all residences Microsoft
>Apartments 2000 are built in an earthquake zone which lies on a flood
>plain in the middle of a tornado alley along the path of Atlantic
>Hurricanes. That's just a fact of life of having a building to live
>in. Just remember, Microsoft Apartments 2000 are 50 times more stable
>than Microsoft Apartments 98. Our current estimated uptime for a
>Microsoft Apartment is 90 days between structural collapses.
>Don't worry though, Microsoft Deckscan will search through the
>ruble of your apartment and reposition most things for you.
>All broken objects, or those which have fallen out of various
>drawers will be neatly lined up by the front door, and placed in
>gift-wrapped boxes with tags reading "Object001._DD" "Object002._DD"
>and so on. That way, even if an important screw from your somewhere
>inside your dishwasher falls out, you know EXACTLY where it is...
>right next to your front door.
>
>SCRIPTING
>
>
>The use of scripting, such as user-programmable microwave ovens is
>strongly discouraged. However, for a mere $300, you can buy a
>microwave that cooks chicken, and for another $200, you can buy a
>another microwave that thaws meat properly. If you want a microwave
>with a temperature probe, THAT will cost you $700...but it won't be
>able to cook chicken nor thaw meat properly.
>
>
>RENTER MAINTENANCE
>
>Even though Microsoft Apartments are completely intuitive, and
>don't need any maintenance, some users like to purchase Norton
>Janitors, or Norton Janitorworks 2000. NJW has neat things, like
>a Norton Doctor, which tells you how much space you've used in
>your apartment, and what day it is, and how cluttered and
>disorganized you are.
>
>APARTMENT MAIL SERVICES
>
>Recently, Microsoft has invented a new communications technique
>called "mail" Microsoft MAIL allows you to send and recieve objects
>to/from other apartments. Allegations that Microsoft purposely
>installs in our Apartments(TM) substandard sheetrock that harbors
>and sustains viruses found in mail--usually originating from
>pakistan and isreal, is, in fact, a blatant falsehood. Microsoft
>Apartments are completely protected ag ...ahg...ahg...ahchoo!
>
>
>POWER RENTERS
>
>You will see many owners of Microsoft Automobile. This family of
>products is easily identified by the use of Polygon Technology.
>Microsoft Wheel 2.0 has 8 sides and 8 corner, and Microsft Wheel97
>has 20 sides and 20 corners.
>
>Microsoft has discovered that increasing the number of sides and
>corners of a Wheel increases its stability and reduces the likelihood
>of control-difficulties that lead to crashes.
>
>
>
> Microsoft WheelsPT*
> Rolling Resistance (Ergs/Meter)
>
> | #
> | #
> | #
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | \
> | |
> | \
> | |
> | \
> | \_
> | \___
> | \______
> | \_________
> | \_______________
> | \_____________
> |
> +--+----+-+----------+---------+---------+---------+--------+
> 0 3 8 10 20 30 40 50 60
> A B C D
> Polygonality.
> (Sides + Corners) / 2
>
>As can be seen in in the graph above, wheels using large numbers
>of both sides and corners are the most efficient.
>
>Microsoft Wheel 1.0 (B) used an 8-sided polygon, as this is the
>break-even point and further investment in more sides could not be
>justified on cars and trucks with limited resources typical of that
>time. By increasing the number of sides and corners to 20 each in
>Microsoft Wheel 2.0 (C) rolling resistance has been cut in half.
>Microsoft Wheel2001 (D) will feature 60-sided wheels, for a further
>reductions in road noise, vehicle vibration and both driver and
>vehicle metal fatigue.
>
>Other auto-part suppliers may tell you that a tire only needs one side,
>and zero corners. Such tires, however, are very cheaply made, AND
>very costly to use. Viewing the graph above, one can see that the
>rolling resistance approaches the Y-axis asymptotically, which means
>that 1-side + 0-corner lie at the extreme left end of the graph.
>(1 + 0)/2 = 1/2. Our research show that below a polygonality value
>of 7, rolling resistance rises sharply. Other manufacturers'
>wheels have a polygonality of ONLY ONE-HALF(!!!!) and thus, have
>tremendously high rolling resistance.
>
>
>Additionally, circular tires give drivers less control. With
>Microsoft WheelsPT, the full flat side of a Wheel(tm) makes contact
>with the road surface as it bumps down the highway, giving the
>driver very high traction. In contrast, round tires give road
>contact on only an extremely small part of the tire.
>
>Also even parked cars with circular tires are dangerous! Other
>manufacturer's automobiles which don't use "Polygon Technology"
>require the use of an additional, difficult to use gadget called
>"brakes." Microsoft feels that the use of circular wheels is
>extremely dangerous, because if the user forgets to use the brake
>after parking, the damn thing might roll away!
>
>To protect all Microsoft Apartment 2000 residents, Microsoft prevent
>the use of these dangerous automobiles NOT equiped with safe Microsoft
>Wheels(tm) by Microsoft Apartment residents or their guests and their
>visitors, All parking spaces have 3-foot tall steel pillar in the
>middle of the parking space. Non-conforming automobiles will not be
>able to park; but Microsoft Automobiles have a special channel
>allowing your car to be safely parked in the parking space.
>Improperly parked cars will be towed and crushed.
>
>FRUIT TREES
>
>Microsoft Apartments all feature Microsoft FRUIT trees. Microsoft has
>conducted extensive research into this subject, and determined that
>everyone prefers fruit based on Delicious technology. Anybody spreading
>unfounded accusations that Microsoft Delicious is a poor implementation
>of the Macintosh technology can hash it out with our lawyers in
>Microsoft COURT(TM).
>
>
>
> _
> / \
>| |
> \_X Someone told me about HOUSES--isn't that a better deal?
>
> ^
> /_\
>/ \ Rumors that some Linus guy and his friends are practically
>giving away land, upon which you can build your own house are to be
>taken with a bag of salt. Besides, houses are old technology.
>Sure, you can have multiple people in your house at the same time,
>and the toilet and cooking areas are in seperate rooms, and there
>are usually individual bedrooms for keeping your own stuff while
>still sharing the house with other people in your family, and a
>nice big yard that's all your own, and a basement to store stuff,
>and everyone can share the stereo but...who needs all that
>oldfashioned stuff when you can have Microsoft APARTMENT with the
>Microsoft WINDOW! If you buy a house, then you have to plant your
>own trees. Do you know how expensive it is to hire someone to plant
>an acorn!?!? Not only that, but in a house, there is no gardner to
>mow your lawn at 3:00 in the morning, providing you with a nicely
>fresh-cut lawn when you wake up, either that, or you must hire a
>gardner yourself, and have fun trying to find one who is willing
>to come cut your lawn at 3:00 AM! At Microsoft, we've solved that
>problem for you, so you can a good night's sleep, every night.
>
> _
> / \
>| |
> \_X Doesn't that HOUSE system have less bugs?
>
> ^
> /_\
>/ \ Rumors of bugs in Microsoft Apartment 2000 are
> [STOMP!] highly exagerated.
>
>
> Microsoft
> Where do you want us to go today?
>
>
>--
>Aaron R. Kulkis
>Unix Systems Engineer
>ICQ # 3056642
>
>I: "Having found not one single carbon monoxide leak on the entire
> premises, it is my belief, and Willard concurs, that the reason
> you folks feel listless and disoriented is simply because
> you are lazy, stupid people"
>
>A: The wise man is mocked by fools.
>
>B: "Jeem" Dutton is a fool of the pathological liar sort.
>
>C: Jet plays the fool and spews out nonsense as a method of
> sidetracking discussions which are headed in a direction
> that she doesn't like.
>
>D: Jet claims to have killfiled me.
>
>E: Jet now follows me from newgroup to newsgroup
> ...despite (D) above.
>
>F: Neither Jeem nor Jet are worthy of the time to compose a
> response until their behavior improves.
>
>G: Unit_4's "Kook hunt" reminds me of "Jimmy Baker's" harangues against
> adultery while concurrently committing adultery with Tammy Hahn.
>
>H: Knackos...you're a retard.
>
------------------------------
From: "Drestin Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Just curious, how do I do this in Windows?
Date: 22 Jul 2000 19:44:04 -0500
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8l8l8t$3j9$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> "Drestin Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> >This is my understanding of Big Endian and Little Endian:
> [...]
> >So, I took it to mean inputting: 0x12345678 I should output: 0x78563412 -
> >and so on.
>
> >FUNCTION EndianFlip (Value)
>
> >Temp$ = HEX$(Value)
> >IF LEN(Temp$) MOD 2 THEN Temp$ = "0" + Temp$
>
> >Bytes = LEN(Temp$) \ 2
> >FOR X = 1 TO Bytes
> > Build$ = MID$(Temp$, (X - 1) * 2 + 1, 2) + Build$
> >NEXT
> >EndianFlip = VAL("&H" + Build$)
>
> >END FUNCTION
>
> Yikes! If I give you 0x00012345, you'd give me back 0x00452301, which is
> completely wrong. There is a huge difference between something begin zero
> and something being empty, or not existant.
Yes, you are right. That was a mistake and easily fixed.
>
> Of course, the whole idea of doing this sort of thing with strings is
> repulsive. Tell me, how long would the VB equivalent of
Hey, it was a quick and dirty function. I wasn't shooting for the cleanest
solution of the year award. It does it's job doesn't it?
>
<snip>
> >(p.s., a fellow programmer, the Crazy Englishman, just walked over,
looked
> >at my code, agreed it would work
>
> He is wrong.
>
> >and then laughed cause he said I took the hard route and that there
> >is a much easier way in VB. Argh, now I'm going to have to actually
> >think for a bit...)
>
> It would be advisable to do that, anyway.
yes, but think about something. The function that was choosen is singularly
something a VB programmer is never really facing. Far as I know, I'll never
be porting my VB app between different endian machines. The function is not
something I recognized cause I've never done it before. But someone said:
"here, betcha cant' do this in VB" and I did. That's all. It wasn't meant to
win prizes.
------------------------------
From: "Drestin Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Just curious, how do I do this in Windows?
Date: 22 Jul 2000 19:46:09 -0500
"David Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8l9mk3$tlo$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>
> Drestin Black wrote in message
> <8RJd5.36990$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> >
> >"Perry Pip" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> >news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> >> On 18 Jul 2000 18:08:13 -0500,
> >> Drestin Black <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >OK - I'll take the bait. I can't. So, why don't you show us some C
logic
> >> >that can't be done in VB. Show me something I can't do in VB...
> >>
> >> void endian_flip(unsigned short *word){
> >> int temp = *word;
> >> *word = 0;
> >> for(int i = 1; i < sizeof(unsigned short) ; i++ ){
> >> *word |= (temp & 1);
> >> temp >>= 1;
> >> *word <<= 1;
> >> }
> >> *word |= (temp & 1);
> >> }
> >>
> >> Show me how to do that in VB.
> >
> >This is my understanding of Big Endian and Little Endian:
> >
> >"On an Intel computer, the little end is stored first. This means a Hex
> word
> >like 0x1234 is stored in memory as (0x34 0x12). The little end, or lower
> >end, is stored first. The same is true for a four-byte value; for
example,
> >0x12345678 would be stored as (0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12). "Big End In" does
this
> >in the reverse fashion, so 0x1234 would be stored as (0x12 0x34) in
memory.
> >"
> >
> >So, I took it to mean inputting: 0x12345678 I should output: 0x78563412 -
> >and so on.
> >
> >So... hows this?
> >
> >FUNCTION EndianFlip (Value)
> >
> >Temp$ = HEX$(Value)
> >IF LEN(Temp$) MOD 2 THEN Temp$ = "0" + Temp$
> >
> >Bytes = LEN(Temp$) \ 2
> >FOR X = 1 TO Bytes
> > Build$ = MID$(Temp$, (X - 1) * 2 + 1, 2) + Build$
> >NEXT
> >EndianFlip = VAL("&H" + Build$)
> >
> >END FUNCTION
> >
> >In Delphi I would simply use the "swap" function which converts between
big
> >endian and little endian values. Now that's simple.
> >
> >However, allow me this escape, if I misunderstood the purpose/function of
> >your function then please correct me so I can produce the routine you
would
> >like to see.
> >
> >(p.s., a fellow programmer, the Crazy Englishman, just walked over,
looked
> >at my code, agreed it would work and then laughed cause he said I took
the
> >hard route and that there is a much easier way in VB. Argh, now I'm going
> to
> >have to actually think for a bit...)
> >
>
>
> Why don't you just translate the C directly into VB?
>
> sub endian_flip (w as integer)
> dim i as integer
> dim temp as integer
>
> temp = w
> w = 0
> for i = 1 to 4 ' or 2 for 16 bit VB
> w = w * &H100
> w = w or (temp and &HFF)
> temp = temp / &H100
> next
> end sub
>
> Of course, neither C nor VB compares with the assembly version:
> bswap eax ; Endian swap of 32-bit register
>
> Byte and bit manipulation is often far easier to write and understand, and
> much smaller and faster, when written in assembly rather than VB or C.
Actually - I never ever have need for this function in BASIC which is why i
was unfamiliar with it so I just jotted out a brute force solution - the
first thing to pop to mind. I didn't sit and dwell on it or spend more than
a few seconds to pound out the code. Someone just said "couldn't be done in
VB" - and I did. That's all.
Your version from the C version is more efficient.
------------------------------
From: Tim Palmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Windows98
Date: 22 Jul 2000 20:46:30 -0500
On 12 Jul 2000 15:09:04 GMT, Paul Colclough <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Nathaniel Jay Lee) wrote in
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>
>>> Also so my other reply to this group.
>>
>>I guess I don't see the point in having all of those directories there.
>>The only one that will actually run is the latest version you
>>installed. And what is the point of having it scattered all over the
>>place? When you upgrade a program, don't you want just the new copy?
>
>Yes, but removing the old version (minus config files) is not too much of a
>hassle normally, unless of course it's got no uninstall program or
>installed a lot of files so takes a good while to remove them.
...which is normly the case on UNIX.
>
>>Also, in your other post you make it sound like you really want every
>>program installing into its own directory. I know it's really difficult
>Not really, I really just wanted to know every program that was installed
>and where about it was installed. Most dist's install a *LOT* of utilities,
>most of which I have no idea what they do, and probably will never use
>them.
Most of them do such small, stupad thigns that thear's really no point in wrighting
them to begen with.
>Tim's post was very informative though,
I try my bset.
>so should most of the problems of
>finding programs even when I don't know the command line to use to run them
>(eg. when executable name is different than package name - which is usually
>the norm).
------------------------------
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